• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.94-100
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• 1999

Mercurous chloride($Hg_2Cl_2$) crystals hold promise for many acousto-optic and opto-electronic applications, which are prepared in closed ampoules by the physical vapor transport(PVT) growth methods. The thermal boundary conditions established by imposing different temperature on sidewalls of the enclosure cause simultaneous horizontal and vertical convectie flow in the PVT processes of$Hg_2Cl_2$ . It is found that for the ratios of horizontal to vertical thermal Rayleigh numbers$Ra_H/Ra{\ge}1.5$, the convective flow structure changes from multicellular to unicellular for the base parametric state of Ra=($2.79{\times}10^4$) , Pr=0.91, Le=1.01, Pe=4.60, Ar=0.2 and$C_V =1.01$. For the $\Delta T^{*}_H$ greater than 0.3, the $$\mid$U$\mid$_{max}$is increased with increasing $\Delta$ T^{*}_H$ and decreasing the aspect ratio. For the aspect ratios ranging from 0.1 to 1.0, there is a direct and linear relationship between $$\mid$U$\mid$_{max}$ and $\sqrt{{\Delta}T^_H\;^{\ast}}$.A decrease in the aspect ratio destabilizes the convective flow and results in an increase of the magnitude of convection in the crystal growth reactor. The vertical gradient tends to destabilize the convective flow which leads to oscillations, whereas the horizontal gradient stabilizes the convection.